Archive for the ‘Jharkhand’ Category

After an all out assault on human rights activists inChhattisgarh the government has now unleashedDEATH SQUADS armed with sophisticated weaponsto murder Maoist leaders and Sympathisers.

Government plans to drench the forests of Chattissgarhand Jharkhand with the blood of revolutionaries.

All over the world Death Squads have been used to suppressrevolutionary movements.

Death squads operate beyond all the known laws of the country and humanity in general.They are called Death squads because they have strict instructions to kill andnot capture.The identities of members of death squads are usually kept secret toshield them from any future investigations or retaliation for their crimes.

They are given a free hand and are not accountable to any authorityother than their immediate military leader.They operate ruthlessly and shootfirst and almost never ask questions.

Government of India Unleashes death squads on trail of Maoist leaders,sympathisers in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

June 9: Forests in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are set to witness Hollywood-style action with deployment of Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs), crack commando units specially trained for jungle warfare.

A dozen such units are being deployed in the two states for the first time.

They will be air dropped in dense forests and will be equipped with carbines, grenades, jungle knives and a week’s ration. They have been trained at the Counter Insurgency and Anti-Terrorist Training Centre in Silchar.

“Members of these teams have been handpicked from the CRPF(Central Rakshas Police Force) for their cruel demonic nature” said a home ministry official.

“Like the Grey Hyenas of Andhra Pradesh, their brief would be to launch swift murder operation against Maoists. These teams would be able to go cracking in a matter of minutes on getting information about a Maoist attack or movement.”An American trained Death squad member in Iraq

For swift movement of QRTs, the Centre has allowed Chhattisgarh to hire a helicopter. Similar offer is likely to be made to Jharkhand soon.

The QRTs will work in close co-ordination with the modern control centre coming up at Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh.

Four bomb detection and disposal squads (BDDS) — three in Chhattisgarh and one in Jharkhand — are also being deployed.

“Mines have caused maximum damage to our security forces. Four more BDDS will be placed in the two states by the end of September. For bigger troop movement, six more mine-proof vehicles are being given to the two states,” said officials.

The two states will also get six UHF jamming devices to check remote-controlled and mobile phone-operated blasts.

“Though no such blasts have taken place in the two states, UHF jamming devices are being given as intelligence reports suggest that the Maoists are moving from wire-controlled blasts to remote-controlled and mobile-operated blasts,” said an officer.

Police in Jamshedpur, meanwhile, admitted that the Maoists have been trying to encircle the steel city.

The Maoists, who shot and assaulted a group of JMM supporters late on Thursday night at Patamda, on the outskirts of the city, had come from across the border in Bengal. They were demanding levy from traders of country liquor.

Police claim to have identified three local “rebels” who helped the outsiders. A manhunt has been launched to nab them and long-range patrols are being conducted in the area.

In Bokaro, superintendent of police Priya Dubey on Saturday displayed the landmines, grenades, detonators, rifle, police uniforms, Maoist literature and flags recovered from a bunker at the foothills of Jhumra hills. The rebels, however, managed to escape the joint combing operation by the police and CRPF.

Ranchi, June 10: The state government has decided to strengthen the intelligence network in a bid to outwit the Maoists.

The government has decided to create about 1,200 posts to boost manpower in the intelligence wing of the state police, known as Special Branch.

Moreover, the state home department had proposed to establish an intelligence training school at Ranchi to provide training to the sleuths.

The proposal is awaiting the government’s nod. The upgrading of the Special Branch is aimed to garner concrete information about the movement and activities of the rebels so that effective steps could be taken against them.

According to sources, once the government gives its nod, the nitty-gritty of the institute would be worked out by the home and police department officials.

The state has been reeling under severe Maoist attacks since 2003 with over 300 such incidents. This resulted in the death of a large number of police and civilians. Shockingly, these have far outnumbered the Maoist deaths.

Last year 43 police personnel and 81 civilians were killed. In comparison only 20 rebels were gunned down by the police.

“The major part of the Rs 50 crore assistance from the Centre for the police modernisation programme would be used to upgrade the vital wing of the state police,” said an official.

State home secretary, Sudhir Tripathy said the process of filling up of the additional posts would begin soon. “In fact the government had already increased manpower in the Special Branch last year. But it would be further strengthened,” said Tripathy.

The proposal for the intelligence training school has been mooted to prepare the sleuths for gathering information in an effective manner.

According to an official, there is an imperative need to make the intelligence personnel aware of how to garner information. Training would also be imparted on the use of modern gadgets.

Ranchi: Petty traders and vegetable vendors on Saturday vandalised three of the five Reliance Fresh food outlets here, feeling threatened by the modern retail chain.

Around 200 people barged into the stores, which sell grocery, fruits and vegetables and smashed glass panes and pulled down the shelves as the Reliance Fresh staff ran for cover.

A retail outlet at Lalupur Chowk was the first target, followed by one near Tagore hill and another near the Plaza cinema here.

City Superintendent of Police Richard Lakra told PTI that the protesters pelted stones at the stores injuring a constable, when the police tried to stop them near the Tagore hill shop and also attacked and damaged passing vehicles.

Reliance Retail officials, however, declined to comment.

The police had to use `mild force’ to quell the mob, which was joined by people from the weekly haat at Tagore hill, Mr. Lakra said.

According to unofficial reports six people were injured in the police action.

After the violence, all the five Reliance Fresh shops downed shutters with the police standing guard.

Recently vegetable vendors and small retail shop-owners had demonstrated against the opening of Reliance Fresh outlets in Jharkhand, accusing the private sector of directly affecting their business.

In West Bengal, Forward Bloc leader and State Marketing Board Chairman Naren Chatterjee said the company could face similar action if it went ahead with plans to open stores in the State.

“If small traders are affected, the reaction may be violent,” he said.

Patna/Ranchi, April 9: Jharkhand deputy chief minister Sudhir Mahto has received a threat email, apparently from the Maoists, but police can’t track it down because they have no cyber cell.

Till now, the rebels have been known to use only media releases, their own website or mouthpiece People’s March to issue threats. So Mahto wants the source and authenticity of the email probed.

The message, issued in the name of Communist Party of India (Maoist) spokesman Sukhdev, threatens the minister with the same fate as his Jharkhand Mukti Morcha colleague Sunil Mahto if he doesn’t stop criticising the rebels for killing the Jamshedpur MP.

It also warns him against backing the corporate houses that want to set up industries in the state.

The sender has also emailed the message to newspapers in Ranchi, but some media offices in Patna have received it in the form of a letter, left in an envelope.

“This is the first instance when the Maoists have issued a threat to a leader in an email. It’s very difficult to ascertain the genuineness of the letter,” a senior police officer said.

A cyber cell manned by software-savvy personnel could have tracked the email down to a cyber café or a personal computer, he added.

The message asks the deputy chief minister to desist from “letting loose a barrage of lies” against the rebels, “cooked up at the diktat of corporate houses and the state’s landed gentry”.

It accuses him of “glorifying” the “notorious” Sunil Mahto, who was gunned down as he watched a football match at a Ghatshila village on March 4.

“Can you explain how Sunil, born in a middle peasant family, turned into a karodpati (millionaire) as your party leader,” asks the message, issued allegedly on behalf of the Maoists’ Bengal-Jharkhand-Orissa regional committee.

The minister was asked to read the writing on the wall.

“Don’t think the Jharkhandis will spare the notorious high priests of the JMM who only know how best to amass fortunes by all dishonest means, being a part of the exploitative system controlled by the Tatas, Jindals, Mittals, various MNCs and feudal landlords.”

The sender tells the deputy chief minister that he is traversing the same path as Sunil was before his “execution”.

“From 2003, whenever Sunil Mahto set foot on East Singhbhum, he chose to provoke the masses against us, against our movement, for an exploitation-free Jharkhand.”

Former Jharkhand police chief V.D. Ram had taken the initiative to set up a cyber cell about a year ago. But just when things were taking shape, he was transferred and the plan went into the freezer.

Additional director-general of police R.C. Kaithal said: “We are planning to set up a cell and have a law to deal with such crimes.”

Bhubaneswar/Ranchi, April 26: The Centre today asked Naxalite-hit states to gear up their machinery to tackle the menace, which is posing a major threat to internal security.

Orissa would get a third India Reserve Battalion (IRB) to combat the growing Naxalite menace while Jharkhand was pulled up for not following proper procedures in combating the Naxalite menace at a day-long meeting of the Coordination Centre on Naxalism in Delhi today.

Union home secretary Madhukar Gupta, chairing the meeting, told the chief secretaries and directors-general of police of the Naxalite-affected states to keep a constant vigil on the movement of Naxalite groups, training camps, weapons, hideouts and sources of funds. Major Naxalite-hit states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Bihar made detailed presentations of their action plans to tackle the menace.

Orissa DGP Amarananda Pattnaik told The Telegraph the third battalion of IRB would be raised soon. It might be set up either at Keonjhar or Raygada district.

Orissa’s first IRB is located at Sunabeda in Orissa’s southern Koraput. The state government has decided to set up a similar battalion in western Orissa, for which Central nod has been received and recruitment started.

During the meeting, two glaring examples were cited wherein security personnel of Jharkhand failed to comply with procedures that led to deaths of civilians and jawans following attacks from rebels.

The Jharkhand representatives were told that when rebels attacked the slain JMM MP Sunil Mahto, the security guards were not organised in counter-attacking the rebels, the Coordination Centre on Naxalism. Similarly, the police failed to act although there were intelligence inputs that the CISF post at Bermo in Bokaro was on the rebels’ target.

“Centre wants the Jharkhand government to ensure that proper procedures are adhered to when it comes to take on the rebels. The state must see to it that all inputs are taken seriously and the security personnel work in a proper manner to repel rebel attacks,” sources said.

Some of the states, including Jharkhand, requested the ministry to allow states to take help of army in evacuating police personnel from venue of incidents, if the need arises.

“Sometimes, the choppers develop snags and cannot be used for rescue operations. In such situations, the state governments should be allowed to get in touch with army directly so that army personnel could be rushed immediately. The Centre has agreed to this proposal and assured to hold a dialogue with Union ministry of defence to work out the modalities,” sources said.

Stop torturing us, else we flee towards towns.’ The anger against police spills on to the streets in around 200 villages along Jharkhand-West Bengal border.

Disgruntled by the unleash of torturous treatment to them for allegedly siding with naxalites, the villagers, breaking boundaries of state and region, have joined hands and virtually issued a fatwa against police of the two states warning them to refrain from harassing innocent people. “If you continue with the torturous treatment,” villagers warn police, “We would migrate to the nearby towns to settle, demanding camps and compensation alike the Kashmiri and other refugees.”

What has prompted them to take such a major decision? HT visited few such villages, mostly inaccessible, to hear their grievances. The resentment against police was apt. For, villagers complain that ever next day police of any of the two states would raid their homes and pick up men and youth on suspicion of being a naxalite or aiding the Red Brigade.

During the last one and a half month, Jharkhand police has arrested at least 15 persons from Kesarpur panchayat alone, most of them charged with conspiring and assisting naxalites in killing Jamshedpur MP, Sunil Mahato. Villagers vehemently deny their involvement in the gruesome act, and vouch for their innocence.

Situation in bordering villages of West Bengal including is no different. People in Dwarsini complained that police raid their homes, pick up innocent members of their families, and also loot cash and belongings. A case in point is the arrest of Dumkakocha youth, Sunil Singh for his alleged involvement in the blowing up of Dwarsini Tourist Lodge.

A visibly anguished, younger brother, Anil Singh told HT, “My brother was a yoga trainer with Art of Living (AoL) camp at Ghatsila, besides serving part time for Sahara finance. When Bandwan police raided our home for him, Sunil had in his possession Rs 40,000 cash he had collected from his clientele. They took away cash and other valuables along with my brother for a crime he had never committed.”

With the situation turning worse each day, the aggrieved villagers felt the need to raise a concerted voice against the atrocity by law enforcers, and thus formed Border Jungle Mahal Jan Jagran Samity (BJMJJS). The Samity recently has taken out two massive rallies in the Bengal side protesting against police atrocities, and demanding immediate release of innocent people trapped on naxalism charges. A similar rally is being planned in Ghatsila (Jharkhand) shortly.

“Police torture us in the day, in the night its naxalites. If living in village were a crime, we would love to migrate to towns and cities,” observed BJMJJS chairman, Panchanan Singh. Ram Chandra Murmu, secretary, Majhi Pargana Mahal, supreme socio-religious body of tribals in the area too confirmed police atrocity against innocent villagers.

RANCHI: Advocating dialogue with Naxalites, Union HRD minister Arjun Singh on Tuesday said such discussions will help bring about solution to problems.

“One should try to make them (Naxalites) understand through talks that violence brings nothing,” Singh said.

“Its not force, but discussions which will bring about solution to problems,” Singh said after launching the second phase of ‘School Challe Hum’ programme.

The union minister made the comments after being informed that the state intended to accelerate educational programmes in different parts of Jharkhand despite 18 districts of the state being Naxalite-infested.

State HRD minister Bandhu Tirkey also pointed out that it was a challenge for his government to take up educational schemes in the rural areas in the face of extremism.

In the above post you might have noticed that the criminals in the politicalestablishment talk about striving to raise the literacy graph of Jharkhand.

Is this what they mean by literacy ?This drama of the ruling classes fool no one.

12,000 children driven out of school to make way for police camps

Ranchi, April 18 (IANS) With security worries uppermost on mind, the Jharkhand government has converted 25 schools in the state into police camps.

Many schools have been closed in the last five years as the buildings are used as police camps. Estimates put the number of affected students at 12,000.

When anti-Maoist operations are launched, the security personnel are shifted into school buildings. In some schools, the personnel live in the building while teaching takes place under the open sky.

As a result, a primary school in Ghure village of Latehar district is closed since 1990 and Maoist guerrillas have attacked the building thrice.

Education in the Chatrapur Middle school of Daltanganj has also been affected since 1990 for similar reason.

“For many years now, classes are taking place outdoors as the school building has been given to security personnel. Studies are badly affected by the movement of the security personnel but we cannot do anything about it,” complained a teacher in Jhumra Hill of Bokaro district.

Another teacher of a school in Kurkura, Gumla district, said: “Student lives are endangered by the presence of police here. The police use these children as shields knowing well that the Maoists won’t attack them. “

However, police officials pledge helplessness “We need places to house the security forces. The government has asked us to convert schools into camps. What can we do? We are just doing our job,” said a police official.

Maoists are active in 16 of the 22 districts of the state. At least 600 people, including 290 security personnel, have been killed in Maoist related violence in the last six years.

Hyderabad/Ranchi, April 13: The joint strategies to tackle Naxalite activities, modernisation of intelligence gathering and improving inter-state coordination formed the core agenda of the meeting of top police officials of nine Naxalite-affected states here today.

The daylong meeting, convened by Union home ministry, was attended by anti-Naxalite operations nodal officers of nine states affected by Left-wing extremism.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, special secretary in the Union home ministry M.L. Kumavath said Naxalite violence had been on the decline across the country, barring a few states, including Chhattisgarh.

“We are confident of eliminating extremist menace within the next three years if all the states work unitedly and with better coordination,” he said.

It was estimated that there were about 6,000 armed militants across the country, the official said.

Asked whether the Centre would take the initiative in starting dialogue with Naxalite groups, Kumavath said it was up to the state governments to take a decision on the issue. “There is a scope for talks only if extremists give up arms,” he said.

The first-ever direct talks with Naxalite groups, initiated by the Congress government in 2004, had collapsed with extremists pulling out of the dialogue process in protest against the alleged fake police encounters.

Meanwhile, additional director-general of police, Jharkhand, G.S. Rath, who attended the meeting at Hyderabad, said that the task force discussed the growing Naxalite offensive in Jharkhand, particularly the killing of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha member of Parliament Sunil Mahto and attack on the CISF camp at Bermo.

Chairman of the State Police Housing Corporation and director-general of police (reforms) V.D. Ram, on the other hand, highlighted the loopholes in the state security system to fight the menace. “Whenever there is a Naxalite attack in Andhra Pradesh, you just press a button and the police officers, right from the DGP to those in the lowest ranks, come into action to combat it. In Jharkhand, we are fighting with the extremists with the forces back in the barracks,” he said.

Ram, who was the DGP about seven months ago, said it is a war-like situation in Jharkhand, as Maoists are clawing their way into the state in a systematic manner. “They have declared their plan for Jharkhand and Bihar after having a few reversal of fortune in Andhra Pradesh. So the government has to strengthen the intelligence system and take specific action. It is still not too late,” he added.